A Link In Two
by CelticIrishSwordswoman
Summary: Link, a young boy living in the outskirts of a great kingdom called Hyrule, has a weird dream that eventually leads him to an old crypt in the deep forest. Inside, he finds himself. Now two heroes exist in the same time. Will that cause danger for both of them?
1. Chapter 1, Dreams and Music

Chapter 1. Dreams and Music  
Dark room. He can smell something, blood. He looked down at the floor, blood. Blood is splattered everywhere. He looked around the room, it gets lighter. There are walls, cave walls. It's a cave. He cannot shake the scent of blood everywhere.  
A crash! Something shatters. The sound of clashing metal, like someone is having a sword fight. He looked from behind a corner at the source of the blood and fighting. One of the fighters is a great shadowy beast. The other...  
He gasped in sudden fear and amazement! The other scarred and bloody figure fighting, was himself!

A frightened young boy awakens from his nightmare. He breathes heavily as he just stares blankly at the wall across from where his bed is, thinking about what he had just seen. His bright blue eyes were full of fear.  
The boy looked down at his left hand, it was trembling, but that's not what he focused on. On the back of his left hand, was a mark of three yellow triangles, that formed together to make one big one with a hole in the middle. It was sort of a sacred mark with his family, and the rest of Hyrule. Which was the kingdom his family came from. Legend had it that the one with that birthmark on their hand was only for someone destined to be a great Hero. Legend also had it wrong sometimes, so the holder never raised a fuss over it. Still, it comforted him to look at it whenever he was frightened or nervous.

When the boy had calmed down a bit, he got out of bed, and got dressed. Over the dark brown shirt and pants he had worn to bed, he put on a dark green tunic and brown leather belt. He quickly stepped into his brown boots, and slipped on his long, pointed green cap over his long dark blonde hair. He pulled his hair back around his long pointed ears - another sign he was Hylian.  
He held his head in his hands, as more memories of that dream returned. So much blood, that figure, himself in the battle. But it couldn't have been him. He remembered little details about his appearance in the dream. His hair was a bit lighter color, and the clothes were different too. Instead of a brown undershirt, it was a very dark green. And... and the one in the dream wore gloves, dark brown fingerless gloves. His subconscious could not have missed little details like that. So, the young boy concluded that dreams were strange, and anything could happen in them.  
"Link!" An old woman's voice calls to the young boy. "Link! Are you awake yet?!"  
"Sure, grandmother!" The boy, whose name is apparently Link, calls back. Link walks to the door, opens it, and goes to the top of the stairs. When he gets there, his grandmother is already halfway up the stairs. "Oh, Link. You're up already." the old white-haired woman in the long blue dress smiles, and turns around to walk back the way she came. Link follows her as she walks down the old wooden steps toward the kitchen.

They had a quick breakfast, and then Link went and took care of the cows and chickens. After he was done, he decided he would go for a long walk in the forest.  
Link loved the forest. It was so beautiful, how all those trees grew so close together. In this woods, so close together, that hardly any sun shone through the leaves. But when it did, there was a beautiful shimmer. You could see a line of sunbeam leading from the sun to where it finally rested.  
So much life in the forest.  
Link sat down under a small bush in one of the prettiest places in this woods. He closed his eyes. He thought of many various things, but the memory of his dream kept reentering his mind. He could not forget the blood... the figure of himself, so in pain and frightened looking.  
And with a sword. Link had learned how to use a sword, he was almost one of the best swordsmen in the land. But he didn't like fighting. He'd rather a fight not come to a battle, if he could prevent it.

Link decided it was time to go home anyways. He got up and started to walk back. But, as soon as he took about four steps, he heard a noise from behind him. He turned around, and saw... nothing. Whatever. He walked a little more, when he heard it again! It sounded like someone was playing the flute. When he turned around, the sound faded. Link was getting a little more than scared now. As soon as he turned around to go back, the music started playing again. Now he was positive it was music. He had no idea where it was coming from though.  
This was just not the best of days. Maybe, the nightmare he had was a dream, and waking up was a dream too. Maybe he was still dreaming. No, no, this was real. Link swallowed his fear as the music started to get louder and louder. He kept walking, trying not to show he was scared. But he was. The music was playing a tune, unlike music. It was just rising and falling. It kept getting louder and louder. And Link kept getting more afraid of it.  
"Who's there?" Link finally shouted. "Why are you following me?"  
The music stopped for a couple seconds, than rose to a low pitched hum, then an even lower pitched murmur. What was it?

Link was too frightened to stay in the woods any longer. He ran. He was scared. A tree branch hit him in the face, but he didn't care. He kept on running until he got to his grandmother's barn. He ran inside as chickens scattered to avoid getting kicked. Swiftly, he climbed up the small ladder into the old hayloft, where he fell to his knees, out of breath.  
Link held his head in his hands. He was scared almost to death. What was happening today?! First, there was that nightmare, now something playing music was following him. Strange music too. It wasn't a tune, it was like... it was like the murmur of a crowd when they all spoke in unison. Like someone was saying something... Saying something?!  
Link paused for a few moments, his jaw dropped open. That's what the music was doing. It was saying something. It sounded kind of like words. But what words? And if something was trying to speak, why to him? And why through the use of stalking music and weird dreams?  
Link knew the only way he could discover the answers was to go back into the woods and confront... it. Whatever it was trying to tell him, it must be important. At least to whatever it was.

Link slowly climbed down out of the hayloft, and walked back to the house. When he got there, his grandmother wasn't home. She'd left a note on the table that told where she went;

Link,  
I had to go to Hyrule Town market to buy some things we were getting low on. Be back in about an hour, you know how far Hyrule Town is.  
~Grandma

Well... Link couldn't wait an hour to tell her about what has happened. He quickly scribbled a note on the back of the paper his grandmother left;

Grandma,  
Will return as soon as I can, there is something I have to do.  
Earlier, I had a dream. A sort of nightmare, an unnatural one. And now, in the forest I heard strange music. I know I must go look for this thing that is trying to contact me.

Link knew there could be trouble if whatever was following him was dangerous. And if it was out to kill him, he knew that his grandmother could be in danger as well as long as he was there. He didn't want to get her hurt. So he added in the letter,

Please don't try to look for me. Please don't. If whatever this is is trying to kill me, you might get killed too, I wouldn't want that.

He reread the letter, placed it on the kitchen table and set a cup on top of it to keep the wind from blowing it from the open window.  
Looking back at the house that he had called home for the past five years, and wondering if he'd ever see it again, he realized he'd forgot something. He steps back inside, up to his room.  
On the wall, above his bed, was a sword and shield. the sword was kind of plain, a dark brown hilt and a long, darker handle. The blade, for being a sword for young swordsmen, was rather long. Even so, it fit Link perfectly. The shield wasn't so plain. Pure metal, carved with designs of a very primitive-looking - though very well done - red bird design in the center, near the top, above the bird, A mark that matched the symbol on the back of Link's hand perfectly. Below the bird, an upside-down yellow triangle that looked like it would fit perfectly in the middle of the other three on top.  
Link took down the shield and sword from the wall, sheathed the blade, and slung the weapons and defense means onto his back. For a second, he paused. He took his sword out again, held it in his left hand, and practice-swung it around, being careful not to hit any furniture. Yes, Link was left-handed. The only left-handed swordsman in Hyrule, currently.  
Link sheathed his sword again, then rushed out the door, and down the stairs. He stopped again, to take a last look around, then he dashed off, toward the backyard into the forest.

* * *

**AN, Okay, I've decided this one will have long chapters, yay.  
Also, thanks for GirlversionofRed for actually helping me out with this one. Se gave me some ideas, and helped me find ideas for another chapter that I have obviously not uploaded yet. Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you like it so far!**


	2. Chapter 2, Two Links

Link slowly passed through the huge grove of trees, he was looking for the place where he first heard that eerie flute music. He started to recognize little things. He remembered the tree branch he hit while he was running, it had sharp branches, but it didn't cut him.  
He kept walking in a straight line from there, until he recognized the bush he had sat under earlier. Good.  
Link was nervous, but he sat down under the bush again, waiting.  
Pretty soon, he could hear something again. It was a slight tune of a flute playing. This time he wasn't as afraid. He stood up, and let the music get louder.  
His ear twitched slightly, like a cat's who was listening to something behind it. While he listened, he could hear the words in the music. They weren't clear, but Link could make them out.  
"H-e-l-p M-e..." The flute sound said over and over again, "H-e-l-p M-e..."  
Link was surprised. It was asking for his help, but with what?  
"H-help you?" He said out loud to the musician, "Why? Help you with what?"  
"F-o-l-l-o-w S-o-u-n-d" came the reply. "F-o-l-l-o-w S-o-u-n-d".  
Link listened. He tried to determine where the sound was coming from. It was coming from behind him. He turned around, and the sound became slightly louder. He started to walk through the brush. towards the music.  
As he walked, it kept getting louder and more clear. Then, he got to an entrance to an ancient-looking structure, the sound stopped.  
"H-e-r-e..." the flute sound told Link. Link stopped at the entrance of the old structure. It was made entirely out of stone blocks, with unique carvings around the supposed door. They showed a sword, a figure that looked... like a pig with a cape, then the pig-creature holding the sword above it's head in victory. For some reason it made Link's stomach turn.  
Behind him, Link heard a slight shimmering noise, he unsheathed his sword, and turned around. Behind him, though, was a bright white silhouette, almost matching Link in height and shape, except it wasn't too clear, because it was pure white, it blended in with itself creating just a large mass of brightness. Two bright blue dots appeared in the silhouette's face. No, not dots. Eyes. The figure had bright blue eyes, almost matching Link's own.  
"Thank you..." a voice came from the figure in the air. It sounded male, but very young. It slightly matched Link's own voice, except it was lower pitched.  
"Th-thank me?" Link's arms fell slightly, but he kept a tight grip on his sword and shield, just in case. "What... did I do for you?"  
"You came back." The white figure replied. "You were frightened away the first time, but you returned, and listened to my call."  
"...But... why did you call to me?" Link sounded confused.  
"Because, I needed help." The young voice replied to him. "I am forbidden now to explain why, only to tell you what you can do."  
Link didn't feel the need to be as cautious anymore, he put away his weapons, then asked. "What do I do?"  
The white silhouette smiled, at least Link thought it did, he couldn't really see. "Open the door to the tomb." It said.  
"...Tomb?" Link was startled.  
"Yes, I cannot explain, just please open the door." The figure urgently said.  
Link was uncertain, but whatever it was wanted his help. He walked up to the door, and pushed on it as hard as he could, it started shifting. The stone pillar of a door moved, then turned, producing two entrances, one on each side.  
Link leaned on his knees for a moment, that was a heavy door. He straightened up, and looked around for the white silhouette. It wasn't there.  
Well, he had opened the door for it, maybe it was happy now. Just as he took a step backwards, though, the voice echoed through the tomb's hallways.  
"Don't leave yet. There's still something you must do for me!"  
Link stopped, then called out. "What?"  
"Come to the end of the hallway!" The voice replied.  
Link hesitated. It looked very dark in that hallway. But, he had helped the... whatever it was, this far, if it really desperately needed help, he would probably regret it if he left it now.  
Link started walking down the long, dark hallway. He didn't know what he would find at the end, but whatever it was, he'd find out soon enough.

As Link reached the end of the long hall, he looked around. His eyes had gotten pretty used to the darkness by now. Enough to make out a stone box in the middle of the room. Link guessed it was a coffin of some sort. The white silhouette was flying in circles around it.  
"Please, open this!" The silhouette spoke urgently, "Please!"  
Link uncertainly nodded. He walked up to the stone coffin, and slowly started moving aside the lid. He only got to open the coffin about a half an inch, before the white figure, who was apparently a lost spirit wanting desperately to get back to it's body, dove inside.  
Link stepped back a little ways, waiting. He readied his sword again, prepared.  
After only a moment or two, Link was slightly startled by a small hand reaching out from inside the stone coffin to push aside the lid. Link expected the loud 'Thurnk' the lid made when it hit the floor. But he didn't expect who arose from within the stone coffin.  
He gasped! It was himself! But, not himself, the Link from his dream!  
The newly-resurrected Link looked down at himself in surprise. He did not have the memories of his spirit, he couldn't remember anyone helping him return to life. The new Link looked around the room a moment, before resting his eyes on the first Link.  
The two almost-identical boys stared at each other for a moment in a long, shocked, and fearful silence. It was the first Link, however, to break the silence by letting his sword slip out of his hand, making a very loud and startling sound, echoing throughout the crypt's walls. He immediately bent down to grab his weapon, bringing the resurrected Link out of his shocked state.  
"W-who are you?" he asked.  
The first Link stood up, and looked the other in the eye, trying not to show he was afraid.  
"My name... is Link." he replied, truthfully.  
"I-I'm Link..." the other said, also truthfully.  
The first Link stood there for a moment, and stared.  
"How...?" Was all he was able to stammer out.  
The new Link shook his head, "Th-that isn't important right now..." He says no one in particular, "What... Why am I in this... tomb?"  
"You..." first Link searched his mind on how to explain things to this almost identical boy from his dreams. "You were apparently killed-" he cut off.  
"Killed? By what? How am I alive again?!" new Link looked very confused. First Link decided to tell him of what happened now. After he was done explaining, the new Link just fixed him with a confused and startled stare.  
"...My spirit called you?" he was still shocked. "I..."  
Suddenly he realized something, he got up and jumped down out of the coffin, and rushed towards the other Link.  
"Is... w-who is the princess of Hyrule, currently?" he asked sternly.  
"Um... princess Ruth, who else?" first Link was puzzled.  
"...Oh no..." new Link looked down at the ground.  
"What is it?" the other asked, "Was there another princess?"  
"Yes... there was. Princess Zelda." came the reply.  
"Zelda?"  
The new Link looked back up at the other Link sadly. "Yes... I guess now I'd better explain the rest..." He walked over to his old resting place, the stone coffin, and sat down with his back to it.  
"I guess it was a few years ago now... how do I know?" he began, "An... an evil arose, the Gerudo king Ganondorf. He was looking to destroy the light in this world to make one of pure darkness for himself. Zelda... Zelda has powers in her, she is... I guess like a walking light source, power-wise. Ganon probably figured that he'd have to get rid of Zelda before he could begin a world of pure darkness. So, he captured Zelda, and for awhile he reigned evil on Hyrule. And I... I was chosen to defeat him." He stopped and glanced up at the other Link, who was understanding his story so far surprisingly well. "We both battled... I managed to seal the demon away in his castle... but, I guess I didn't survive the wounds."  
When he finished his story, the new Link got up again. "You must be the new hero that was supposed to take my place."  
"...But you're alive now." the first Link said, "I can't take your place."  
"...I guess we will have to work together on this..." the other sighed.  
They shared a long pause, before the rescuer spoke, "Well... if we're going to travel together we'd better think up of a nickname of some sort..." the other Link looked confused. "I mean, we can't be calling each other just 'Link', it would get people confused."  
The other had to agree, "But who would call each other what?" he asked.  
The two thought for a few moments, before one spoke up. "Was there anything people used to call you in your home? Like a kind of nickname in your family or friends?"  
"...Well..." the new Link thought for a moment, then a sudden look of painful uncertainty crossed his face, "There... was a little kid... that lived around my farmhouse. He... er... couldn't pronounce words very well."  
"Oh?" the other Link raised an eyebrow in curiosity.  
"...One day, well, some other kids heard him call me..." he winced suddenly, "...Tink..."  
"Tink?!" a wide grin spread across the other's face.  
"Yes, Tink, you wanna make a big deal out of it?" Tink looked annoyed.  
"...Tink..." Link repeated, this time busting out laughing.  
"Shut up!" Tink was very annoyed, "L-let's get out of this... place."  
"Alright." Link tried to stop laughing, but couldn't stop grinning until they were outside.

"...Your name's Link too, just wait until you meet a little kid like that..."


End file.
